A Heated Debate Between Two Charismatic Geniuses: A Cardinal Fan (Jeff Lung) and a Tiger Fan (Allen Krause)

Bruno Brings it Home

You don’t have to be gay or openly support gay rights to feel a little chill at the news coming out of Uganda right now. For a country that is supposed to be one of the brighter spots in sub-Saharan Africa (excepting the still turbulent north), the recent news and continuing coverage of a law that, if passed, would be one of the the most draconian and repressive anti-gay laws in the world is particularly troubling. It shouldn’t come as any surprise, though, considering that the “developed” world hasn’t really made that much more progress.

Don’t believe me? Here’s an example. Raise your hand if you saw Sacha Baron Cohen’s film Bruno this past summer. Ok, now keep your hand up if you enjoyed it. Yeah, a lot of hands went down there, didn’t they? And why is that? Was it any less funny than Borat? Were the stunts any less ridiculous? Did he take advantage of people to a greater degree than he did in Borat? I’ll admit that some of the scenes were over the top. But honestly, there was nothing there that was nearly as offensive as most of what happened in Borat.

So, why didn’t people like the movie? Well, I’m going to go out on a limb here and say it has a lot to do with being uncomfortable. It’s easy to laugh at xenophobia. It’s easy to laugh at a village simpleton who doesn’t understand the way things are done elsewhere. But the in-your-face sexuality of Bruno is discomfiting. The character doesn’t hide who he is and rather goes out of his way to flaunt it. Even those who consider themselves supportive of gay rights seemed to find themselves ejected from their comfort zones by Bruno’s portrayal of such extreme sexuality.

These same currents flow even deeper in the world of sports. Imagine for a second if Tiger Woods had admitted to having multiple affairs with men. At this point, despite his so-called indiscretions, he still has his marketing deals and no one is really considering cutting them, even if they probably will use the affairs to leverage the rates they pay. But if it had been 11 men? Or even 10 women and 1 man? He’d be out the door faster than a neo-Nazi at a Rufus Wainwright concert.

Within Major League Baseball, only two players have come out and both of them did it well after their careers had ended. They knew that there was just no way that who they were would be accepted. The article linked above notes one particular anecdote that gets right to the heart of the matter:

“In his recently published memoir, Going the Other Way, [Billy] Bean
(not the A’s GM) recounts how Dodgers manager Tommy Lasorda constantly made homophobic
jokes, even as Lasorda’s gay son was dying from AIDS.”

The sad thing is, an openly gay baseball player, or even football or basketball player, could go a long way towards helping people become more comfortable with homosexuality. As support for gay marriage has grown in the US, the statistics show that much of that has to do with knowing someone who is gay. When that someone you know is the guy who plays second base for your team, well, that just might have an even bigger impact.

This isn’t going to change overnight. Intolerance is a deep-seated problem that takes generations to truly root out. But like it or not, in the same way that athletes are held up as examples and role-models all over the world, our country is also held up as an example all over the world. If we want to criticize Uganda for its inhumane law, we should probably take a look closer to home as well.

3 Comments

I think there are a few more serious issues in the world than those in Uganda in fact I think Uganda has more serious issues than these, but in all fairness Bruno just wasn’t as funny as Borat…
~peter
Outside the Phillies Looking Inhttp://devilabrit.mlblogs.com

I know of one professional football player who came from my home town who played on a great team in the NFL, but the minute it got out that he perfered men to women…….Things began to happen.
No one ever questioned his odd fashion sense or his tidy demeanor on and off the field,but the usual stereotypes did blossom full force after he announced his sexual preference.
I played against him a few times and consider him an outstanding player not matter what his preferences.
Even though I had to tackle him, there was never a homophobic or even unnatural action that belongs outside the realm of football.
He was a professional on the field, and his own person off the field. One had nothing to do with the other, but society condemned him for the difference to the norm.
Sometimes I think we should be ashamed, not the individuals we shun or embarrass.

I thought there were parts of Bruno that were absolutely hilarious. It just didn’t have the consistency of Borat and I got bored. But on the larger topic, I was a book publicist when one of the umpires (can’t remember his name) wrote a book about being gay and having to hide it while working for MLB. One of these days, a marquee player will come out and if he’s a big enough star, it’ll change things. Martina Navratilova finally got endorsement deals. It just took awhile.

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